2019 school year, here we come, ready or not!  I’m not ready.  But I’m getting there.  Outside of concerns all allergy parents have, I hate the early mornings.  It is so hard to wake a sleeping child.  I am relieved though that little boo wakes up happy now.  Compared to the past 4 years when he woke up with grunt and often uttered “stop it” and “go away.”  He now smiles with his eyes closed and wraps his arms around my neck for a hug.  My heart melts each time.  It’s so obvious he’s feeling better.

The boys were on a healing diet last year.  They’ve healed a lot.  We’ve learned a lot.  I am trying not to be scared of the 2018-2019 school year.  The boys have often come home from school with headaches.  I don’t know if they are triggered by under developed vision skills, chemical exposures (we three are chemically sensitive) or diet.  We’ve fixed most of the diet issues.  We’re working on building up under-developed visual skills.

But, I’m not at school to see when they cough, or when their head starts to hurt.  I just have to trust that they are tuned in to their bodies enough to ask for help when they need it, or modify their choices when they need to.

I can’t be there to protect them, so they have to learn to protect themselves.  I hope they’ve learned enough to stay safe at school.

Allergen free safe school snacks

I love our local natural food store.  They make it so easy and convenient for me to help my kids stay safe and enjoy food when they leave home.  I bought raw sunflower seeds, coconut macaroon bars, dehydrated apple chips and rice crackers made with no vegetable oils.   They were so excited to see the stash! An improvement from last year when the only legal snack I could send was fruit leather.

Don’t have natural food store close by?  Check out these real food and allergy free snacks available online.

Notes sent to school

I communicated with the school nurse, principal and their teachers.  Here is the note I sent.  Thought this might be helpful if you are wondering how in the world do you begin to explain food intolerances, healing from environmental allergies/asthma and chemical sensitivities to people who aren’t familiar with our world, our journey, our experience.

A has environmental allergies, cat allergies, is chemically sensitive and is recovering from asthma.  Chemicals like those in perfume, hair dyes, fingernail polish remover, scented candles, wall fragrance plug-ins etc all bother him. They have always done harm to him, but we are only now seeing a reaction each time he has a significant exposure. His body has healed enough for it to send him a warning signal when he is exposed.   He may become teary eyed, start coughing, become congested, become inflexible/angry or get a headache if he is around chemicals.  Do not worry about him.  It is better for his healing if he doesn’t have lots of exposures, but we live in a world of chemicals, and it is hard for him to leave our home without becoming exposed sometimes.  We know how to help him recover from exposures when he comes home from school.  If he is particularly uncomfortable and it is appropriate you can allow him to step outside to breath cleaner air.

His environmental allergies have significantly improved to the point that he no longer needs daily inhalers to stay out of the hospital.  That being said, when outdoor allergens like grass, weeds, pollen are bad, he may react to outdoor air too.  Again, do not worry about him.  He knows how to listen to his body and determine whether or not he needs any interventions.  We can usually remedy a school day exposure after school, but there may be times when he needs an intervention while at school.  I work from home, I’m just down the street from the school, please call anytime if he needs something.  I will work on getting his inhaler with the school nurse.

While he doesn’t have true food allergies, his body is able to heal more effectively if he does not eat unsoured wheat, vegetable oils, sugar, and artificial ingredients.  Almost everything made in a factory is something that can prevent him from continuing to heal.  I have provided safe snacks for him to choose from when friends bring in birthday snacks.  He is allowed to choose snacks provided by the school and other parents and he knows they hinder his healing.  I don’t know what kind of choices he will make, but I would like you to offer him one of his safe snacks when there is a class activity or event where food is provided.  Let him make his choice, for better or worse.

None of his allergies are life threatening.  I only want you to be aware of his health history and observant of reactions he may be having to exposures in the classroom.  It may benefit him from not being paired with someone that has a pet cat. I’m not sure we need to go that far, it’s just a thought.

C has environmental and food allergies and is recovering from asthma. He does not tolerate dairy or gluten (wheat and other grains).  Please do not allow C to eat any food provided by parents or the school.  I have included safe snacks for him to choose from when birthday treats and other class activities involving food are offered.  His environmental allergies have lessened to the extent that he no longer needs daily medication in order to stay out of the hospital.

He is probably chemically sensitive, but his healing is not far enough along for me to see what types of chemicals are causing him harm.  He would do better in an environment without perfume, hair dyes, fingernail polish remover, scented candles, wall fragrance plug-ins, etc but we understand these chemicals are part of daily life for most folks.  I just want you to be aware in case you notice him cough, sneeze, become congested, complain of headache.  He may be reacting to something in the air.  Do not worry about him. We know how to help him recover from exposures when he comes home from school.  If he is particularly uncomfortable and it is appropriate you can allow him to step outside to breath cleaner air.

He has had two specialists consults in order for us to ascertain the cause of his frequent headaches, exercise/heat intolerance, clumsiness, poor visual memory.  We have 2 diagnosis from 2 specialists that differ.  We are evaluating best therapy.  For now, his therapy is completed outside school hours.  Except one thing, he needs be permitted to wear sunglasses when playing outdoors.  This helps prevent sunlight from stressing out his high brain stem and can reduce the number of headaches he gets.  The less headaches he gets the more comfortable he is and the better learning he can accomplish.  Wearing sunglasses is new for him, he hasn’t yet created a good habit, and he will need reminders.  I will work with him at home to build the habit and appreciate your efforts to remind him to take sunglasses to health fitness and playground.  If it helps I can send a pair or two that stay at school so he doesn’t have to worry about bringing them home and back.

He often doesn’t verbalize when he is not feeling well.  But when he feels unwell he may start sucking on his shirt collar.  It’s a self soothing action and helps bring his stress levels down.  We only notice it when he’s feeling yucky but doesn’t want to mention it.  If you see this behavior please ask him how he’s feeling.  The most recent time I observed this was when he was watching a show on TV.  The light from screens bother him, especially in a darkened room.  If that is the trigger, he does well if he can walk outside for a few minutes, or take a few minute break from the screen.  We are only now learning about underdeveloped vision skills and brain pathways.  I wish I could tell you more, but this is the extent of my knowledge at this point.

None of his allergies are lives threatening.  He does not require an epi pen.  He will recover fine after an exposure has cleared his system.